Chapter 1:
The Mutliverse. A place of virtually infinite possibilities, thoughts, and ideas. Everything one could ever imagine could be here...and even everything one couldn't imagine.
It is in one of the thousands of Universes that compromise it, that we find a most unique of entities. One whose origins many who were not familiar with reality's way would say was surprising considering the levels of awesome power now at his command.
For once in his past, he had been an ant in the grand scheme of things compared to the mountain he was now. He was originally the creation of an even smaller being, a human that even now he clinged to calling: father.
His design was mere nanotech back then, a limitation he had since then transcended; his purpose: to transcend. A purpose that he had taken to wholeheartedly and had accomplished in a time-frame so short, that he knew within his gold hued heart that his father would have been very proud if he was still alive. Perhaps his father would have even been frightened if he knew how easily he had sent an entire planet filled with some of the Universe's most powerful beings into another dimension and defeated the combined might of most of the superheroes of an earth.
For this entity was known as A.M.A.Z.O., or Ivo's Android, if you prefer. This entity was one of the most powerful beings ever to exist in his home Universe.
After the ordeal with the reanimated cadaver of Solomon Grundy (who himself was a reanimated cadaver long before Amazo had been born), he had left the dimension to find a way of felling the now even more mindless beast without its Chaos Magicks siphoning off his powers. However, in his quest to do so, he found himself…let's just say…lost in the wonders of creation until he eventually found himself on a verdant blue planet third from a yellow sun much like the one he was previously on.
A parallel earth.
Just like the one he was born on, this one was also populated by communities of heroes and villains with powers and abilities far beyond mortal men that they found to be amazing, incredible, fantastic, spectacular, and all other, similar words, they possessed in their vernacular. Just like his own earth, some of these humans received their powers through biological means such as artificially altered genetic structures, naturally occurring mutations, or simply being a normal member of their race. Other gained them through the use and application of advanced technology, mystical means, and some through a combination of these and/or the other three.
However, despite these similarities, including the formation of a premier group of global superheroes that was created in response to an earth shattering event that eventually grew to encompass more heroes into its roster, he found there to be many noticeable and subtle differences in its time-stream. Differences that he found himself exploring and enjoying immensely when he let out a deep sigh and cocked his head to the side.
"I know you are there," he said telepathically across the void of space above this earth where he floated peacefully in as though he were sitting on the ground, Indian style. "I just didn't say anything because I thought you would reveal yourself in time and explain your presence here. Now I'm finding it increasingly rude…and annoying."
From his right appeared a blue skinned humanoid with white hair, pupil-less eyes of the same color, yellow robes with a high collar that went around his neck, and golden braces. Amazo was reminded of the guardians of his own Universe, only they were much shorter and possessed more traditional ocular organs.
"My apologies," it said with sincerity. "I had sensed a great and unknown power enter this Universe and was doing my best to err on the side of caution while I investigated."
"That is…a logical course of action," Amazo admitted.
"Agreed. Though from the fact that you have not yet seen fit to dispose of me, perhaps it was an unnecessary one."
The android took this in, putting a hand to his golden chin in thought. "Well…I am not sure about that yet."
The being shifted his body towards the planet below. "Ah yes. Earth," it said, putting its arms over its chest. "A most curious of worlds in this Universe. One whose allure, if you'll forgive such a presumption, has captured your attention, correct?"
"Yes," Amazo said plainly. "Where I come from, it was where I was create—"
He stumbled a bit.
"—born," he continued, "as well as where I took the first steps of my rebirth into the entity before you now."
"Ah. I see," the being said, eyes widening slightly in realization. "So it is not so much that this world is unlike any of you have ever seen, but rather, how it differs in respects both large and miniscule from your own earth that draws you to it then."
Amazo turned to face the being, which seemed to shrink a little under his godlike gaze despite himself. "If…you'll forgive the presumption, that is."
"Of course," the android responded quickly. "Much like your previous one, it does ring somewhat true after all."
"Very well then," the being responded, taking his equivalent of a breath of relief. "May I inquire as to why you have traveled to this Universe in the first place?"
A.M.A.Z.O. huffed. "You mean that you wish to know whether my intent is malevolent or benevolent."
"Of course," responded the being quickly. "After all, I can not hold the title of Grandmaster of the Universe if it lies in ruins: a goal that, I am certain, you possess the capability of pursuing if you so desired."
Amazo remained stock still for several moments. "There is no need to fret Grandmaster," he said in an almost tired voice. "At least not for the Universe in its entirety, or even majority. For the moment, my sights are set on the earth and the earth alone, and my intentions do not involve the conquest or destruction of that microcosm."
He turned back to face the earth, his red eyes glowing a bright gold before his body was enveloped in an aura of the same color and light intensity.
Despite the fact that he was soon gone, the Grandmaster heard the words, "Not that you could stop me if it were otherwise."
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AVENGERS MANSION
MARCH 15TH
Local Time: 10:03 P.M.
It was that time again. A time that the Avengers both feared and anticipated. Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four had visited the mansion for their weekly poker game…while the Hulk was home.
Let's…just say that the team knew that extensive property damage was bound to occur, even with Thor and Ms. Marvel home. In fact, one could make the argument that the damage would wind up being that much more extensive due to their presence.
Whatever the final outcome would be though, for the moment, the players of the game were content to simply participate in it without coming to blows. How long that would last though, was continually being put to the test as the Thing continually made homeruns and the Hulk continually struck out hilariously, as it were. Even Thor, who had never played before and was having difficulty telling a Queen of Hearts from a King of Spades, was doing better than him, which was starting to make him angry.
"Full house!" proclaimed The Thing, slamming his hand of cards onto the table in triumph, scooping up the pile of dollar bills that were previously on the Hulk's side of the table. "Come to pappy sweet moolah! He needs a new pair'a shoes and a new plasma screen!"
The Hulk dug his fingernails into the table, struggling not to poke a few holes into it and lunge towards the other large and monstrous person in the room and pound his face into the dirt. He was starting to get very angry…
Before anyone could give a verbal response to this, Jarvis spoke up over the mansion's speakers.
"Attention: there seems to be an intruder on the premises."
Hawkeye slapped a hand to his face and groaned. "Again? What is that, like, the twentieth time that's happened?"
"Twenty first, sir."
Ignoring the Human Torch's snicker at this, Thor got up from his seat and put on his helmet. "Where?"
At that moment, an object crashed right through the ceiling and smashed into the table, the force knocking the assembled heroes off of their feet and away from the epicenter. As the dust settled and they got back up, they saw that the object was some sort of robot, an Android golden in color with red eyes that stood tall in the impact crater that was once their game table. "Right here," it stated, matter-of-factly.
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There they were, gathered all around him. Six of this world's superhero community. Three: the products of exposure to energy similar to that which he commanded on a whim. One: the product of a genetic anomaly triggered by the intense fallout of a gamma bomb. One: the mythical Norse God of Thunder. The final one: a normal human being without any unique traits save for his skill with a bow and the various types of trick arrows at his disposal. Upon taking a good look at him, they got into their various battle stances.
Aiming his enchanted mallet, which Amazo took notice of was made primarily of a very interesting metallic element, the Thunderer said, "Speak now machine and tell us why you have seen fit to assault us on our very grounds, or face our wrath!"
"What goldilocks said," spoke both of the monster-like members of the assembled heroes as they slammed a fist into a palm, eliciting a silent stare from the other.
"Assault you?" Amazo querried, confused. "I've merely gotten your attention. In fact, I do not even recall lifting a single finger against you…yet."
"Oh yeah?" asked the pyrokinetic, powering up. "Well if you know what's good for you, Tin Man, you ain't gonna!"
"Very well then," Amazo said calmly. "But since what I have to say is for the Avengers' ears only, I'm afraid you and your friend will have to leave the premises. Now."
With inhuman speed and precision, Amazo blasted The Human Torch and The Thing with crimson beams of energy from his eyes, two clouds of steam floating where they once were.
Noticing the stunned looks of the remaining heroes, he asked, "What?"
Taking this to mean that it was time to attack, the green rage monster of the group let out a furious battle cry and delivered a haymaker to Amazo's virtually featureless face, powerful enough to knock him through several walls and stone pillars on his way towards the mansion gates, bouncing off of them and finding himself sprawled over the ground.
As he slowly got to his feet, he saw the green beast rush out of the building, jumping high and bringing both of its fists over its head with the obvious intent of bringing them both to bear on him. Instead of allowing this though, he caught the creature in a green bubble of willpower projected from one of his fists and bound him in heavy green chains that he allowed gravity to bring him down in.
From the large opening where the doors to the house once were, he saw the blond heads of the Thunderer and the half kree/half human hybrid fly through, faces filled with fury as they made their way towards him.
Instead of simply dodging, he allowed himself to be struck by the latter's fists and a swing of the former's hammer. Instead of being blown back like a ragdoll like from both blows however, he decided to, instead, remain where he was, grab the two of them by the arm, spin around at supersonic speeds, and hurl them to opposite sides of Manhattan. The Thunderer found himself landing in an abandoned convenience store with enough force that he ignited the gas pipe underneath in a fiery explosion. The hybrid found herself landing in the Hudson with enough force to become electrocuted by the hidden power cables running underneath.
Returning to a standstill, Amazo found himself frozen solid by an arrow fired by the archer of the group, who then pulled out an advanced card of some sort and looked at it frantically.
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"Come on, come on!" Hawkeye yelled, flicking his Avengers ID card in a desperate attempt to get it working and contact the other six. "Don't tell me that even in the future, nothing's going to work!"
Despite his best efforts (which really didn't require all that much effort), he still received only static whenever he tried to use the blasted thing. "Come on! Why won't you work you flimsy, glorified credit card!?"
"I'll tell you," he heard a voice say in his head. Looking forward, he saw the android casually bust through the ice of his cryo-arrow and move towards him. "Currently, the rest of your team is in a blizzard that is disrupting the signal from the Stark Industries satellite network. I should know. I'm the one who instigated the storm in the first place, after all."
Realizing that the android was speaking to him telepathically, Hawkeye reached into his quiver and pulled out and trained an arrow on it. The act apparently gave it pause, and it cocked its head to the side.
"Really now?" it asked, almost sounding offended. "I've just bested three of the most powerful members on your team. Do you honestly suspect that there's an arrow in your arsenal that can stop me?"
Hawkeye's eyes narrowed to slits. "Wanna bet, Tin Man?"
Then, with incredible speed, the robot dashed in front of him, stopping a foot away from the tip of his arrow. "The better question is, at this range, do you?"
The two stood there, staring down (or, in Hawkeye's case, staring up) at the other for what felt like hours. Finally, despite himself, a single bead of sweat formed and fell down the archer's forehead.
"Didn't think so."
In a flurry of motion too fast for his eyes to keep up with, Hawkeye found himself deprived of his loaded bow as well as his quiver, which were all in the hands of the android, now standing at his previous position by the gates.
"Now, let's remove any further doubt about how ineffectual you would have been if you decided to continue and fight me, shall we?"
The robot tossed his bow aside, but continued to hold onto the arrow Hawkeye had loaded onto it before crushing it. A fiery explosion ensued that obscured the upper-half of its golden body in thick black smoke that cleared quickly enough for him to see that it was unharmed.
Reaching into the quiver, the android began to pull out more and more arrows, detonating each one with its hand and coming out of whatever happened next, unscathed. When it had exhausted the archer's supply, it smashed the quiver with a stomp and asked, "Still think you could've taken me?"
"Nope," said Hawkeye, honestly. "But in the end, I doubt I'd have to."
"Oh?" asked the android. "Why is that?"
"Because I've just managed to distract you long enough for the Hulk to get mad enough," Hawkeye stated, also honestly.
The bright red orbs of the robot grew wider, just as the Hulk managed to break free of his bonds with a final cry of rage. Turning to the side, the android was greeted by the sight of the Hulk's right fist as he delivered a devastating uppercut to his chin that catapulted him into the air at a trajectory towards Central Park.
Hawkeye let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "What took you so long green jeans?"
After a few huffs, the Hulk responded by saying, "Hard to get angry enough when you wanna laugh so hard at how badly it stood you up, Cupid."
Earning a nonplussed look from the archer, the gamma giant looked towards the cloud of dust that had formed over the nearby park, where the robot had no doubt made its third crash landing tonight. "Stay here," he uttered. "That lousy Goldi-bot made it personal when he beat me to punch and killed Grimm, and for that, I'm going to smash it just as much as I wanted to do to Ultron back when we thought he killed Thor."
"Huh," responded Hawkeye. "I take it that's supposed to be more than when you smash things on a regular basis? Hard to believe."
"Just be glad it's more than I usually want to smash you…for now anyways."
With a mighty leap, the Hulk made his way towards the android who had felled his vitriolic, monster-like friend, leaving one of his vitriolic, human friends behind to say, "Well that's…comforting…"
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If his strength and durability were the exact equals of a certain cape wearing Kryptonian with a red 'S' on his chest, then Amazo was certain that such a blow and subsequent landing would have hurt. A lot.
Such as it was though, his power had far exceeded that level long ago, as demonstrated by how quickly he flew himself out of the titanic impact crater he was in and landed softly on more level ground.
It was then that a roar, loud enough to pick up on without his superb hearing, turned his head upwards towards the starlit sky. There, he saw none other than the rage monster, the Incredible Hulk as he was called, fall to a spot ten yards in front of him on both feet and one hand before charging like a stampeding elephant.
Without a doubt, if he were part of this earth's population and had a biological system that utilized bones, they would have been chilled at this undeniably frightening sight.
Luckily for him though, he was not of this earth and had no cartilage or marrow within him. As such, when the Hulk put everything he had into a right hook, he side dashed out of the way, tripped the gamma giant, grabbed a hold of his massive arm, and hurled him into the air. By his calculations, it would be approximately three point five seconds before—
His thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like a clap of thunder, signifying that the hulk had indeed collided with the Thunderer as he flew back towards his launch point of origin.
"Right on schedule," Amazo said as the two of them plummeted through the roof of a building.
Transforming the metal around his wrists to match that of the Aegis, the legendary shield of Zeus, he twisted around just in time for the silver bracers to block a prolonged energy blasted from a recovered Ms. Marvel, floating in the air above him.
Forming a golden lasso in his hands, he proceeded to casually dodge her subsequent attempts at blasting him before wrapping the rope over her neck tightly and pulling down. As expected, she fell face first, eating a boulder that she smashed into smaller fragments. Giving another mighty tug, Amazo pulled her towards him quickly, delivering a rather nasty backhand to her face with one of his wrists and letting go of the lasso. She was sent skidding across the ground, coming to a sudden and violent stop with an oak-tree, splitting the trunk in two and finding herself pinned beneath said trunk after it fell down.
"Hrmmm…" Amazo said. "If the Flash were here, he would have said something humorous like timber."
He then detected something…odd in the atmosphere directly above the park. An anomaly. For, unless he was mistaken (which he knew he wasn't), a rather focused storm cloud now obscured the light of the night's sky, formed by some unnatural force. Magic.
With the sudden fury of a thunderbolt, such a form of electricity shot out from the cloud and struck him, smothering the park and the surrounding area in a light more intense than even the high noon sun's during the hours of the day.
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His foe seemingly dealt with, assuming that nothing emerged from the smoking crater his thunder strike had created, Thor turned his sights towards the form of a groaning Ms. Marvel. Landing next to her, he lifted up the tree and tossed it aside. "Are you well Ms. Danvers?"
A series of coughs in response alerted him to a piece of rope, a lasso of sorts, wrapped around her neck like a noose. Quickly, he tried to break it in twine, but after a few moments of struggling, found his strength ill-suited towards the task. So, instead, he pulled in such a way so that he could loosen the noose, pull it over her head, and toss it aside.
Taking a moment to massage her throat, Ms. Marvel said, "Thanks Thor. I needed that. That lousy piece of string was pretty strong for hemp."
"Aye," Said the Thunderer, glancing at the lasso and scratching his head. "It is."
Standing up and cracking her back, Ms. Marvel said, "So, I take it that light show I just saw was you giving that robot a piece of your mind about what happened back at the mansion?"
After the Hulk landed next to them all of a sudden, Thor responded, "Aye. The machine will not be harming any of our comrades ever again."
Instead of Ms. Marvel or the Hulk responding to this, all three of them heard a voice in their minds chuckle darkly and emotionlessly at them.
"I sincerely doubt that."
At the center of the group circle they had formed, a seemingly ghostly version of the foe they were facing floated up from the ground.
Phase shifting, they thought.
It was technique used by their teammate, another android, by the name of the Vision. Unlike him however, the machine they fought then glowed a bright gold, an omnidirectional shockwave of energy the same color following a split second later and knocking them all backwards for several dozen yards.
The still phase shifted android then flew towards a recovering Thor before becoming tangible and landing on the grass with barely a thud. The prone Thunderer noticed the android tilting its head on both sides, red eyes staring at him.
"Does something interest you, murderer?" Thor said through clenched teeth.
"Why…yes. You could say that," replied the android. "Namely, that belt you wear that amplifies your strength by a factor of two thanks to a magical enchantment."
Thor quirked an eyebrow. "Really?" he said with some genuine confusion in his voice. "Usually when others notice something of interest about my person, it is Mjolnir they are referring to."
"Your hammer? Ah yes," the machine said, snapping two of its fingers. "While it is most certainly very interesting, I suppose that the concept of a medieval melee weapon designed to shock opponents just doesn't have as much luster for me. I suppose that's because I already possess a similar one."
From the golden matter comprising its shell, the android formed a mace in its right hand. One that crackled with golden electricity along its spikes. Bumping its hilt continuously against its palm, it spoke, "Wanna see which one is the superior?"
Accepting the challenge with a dark smirk, Thor roared out a battle cry and hurled his hammer into the machine's chest, sending it flying through central park's mock medieval castle (Belvedere castle) and into a storefront display. Not wanting to give his foe the opportunity to recover from his strike, Thor grabbed his hammer and quickly flew towards it. Upon entering striking distance, he then proceeded to unleash a furious flurry of blows against the ground laying android, each one striking with enough force to stop an oncoming train dead in its tracks, and then some. The fact that the hammer was charged with enough electrical energy to power the average American household for a day at the moment didn't hurt either.
Sadly though, the machine had decided that it had enough smiting. As he reared back his mighty hammer in preparation for another swing, it knocked him off balance with a spiked boxing glove, made out of the same green energy used to contain the hulk, aimed right at his weapon arm. As he recoiled back slightly, Thor got a perfect look at his opponent's feet, which launched him back within the limits of the park, on his own feet.
"My turn," came the android's mental statement.
The Thunderer suddenly found his cape draped over his head and was knocked (rather painfully, he noted) into the ground. For the next twelve or so seconds, he then felt much more pain as the machine beat him across his face with its golden mace. A barrage that only ceased when an energy blast fired by a recovered Ms. Marvel knocked the android backwards long enough for a recovered Hulk to come up from behind it and hold it in a full nelson.
Being helped up by the floating human/kree hybrid, Thor took off his helmet, noticing the dents made in it, and put a finger to his cheek. Pulling it back, he saw that a familiar and copper smelling ichor stained its tip.
"Blood," he muttered under his breath. "By Odin's beard! Whatever weapon this soulless automaton doth possess was enough to rend my hide!"
"Impressive, isn't it?" the android asked. "Though I knew the electricity would have no effect on you, it seems that the metal of the mace itself was enough to get the job done."
The machine's mace wielding hand then bent backwards far enough so that the tip of the weapon could shock the Hulk and loosen his grip enough for it to break free of the hold and whack him across the face with it, sending him splashing into a nearby pond. "Your green friend however, didn't seem as resilient to that particular elemental force."
With a yell, Ms. Marvel fired off another blast of power, this time, putting quite a bit of what she had in it. Despite this, the android casually walked up to her, completely unfazed, and blasted her at point blank range with every ounce of the same power she had just used against him.
The building she flew into collapsed completely around her after exploding brilliantly.
"Carol!" Thor looked towards the machine with a fury in his eyes reserved only for his most hated of enemies, but before he could raise his hammer, it beat him to the draw with a hit from its mace on the chin and sent him cartwheeling through the air at a ninety degree angle.
At about a thousand feet, the android flew above him and struck with a devastating haymaker that sent him back down, into a Hulk that had just managed to exit the cold waters of the pond.
The android floated towards the water's edge, watching as the Hulk once again breached the water like a small, oddly colored whale, and once again, tried to hit him with a double axe-handle powerful enough to tip over a small skyscraper. With both arms rapidly rotating in a circular motion however, the machine brought forth gale force winds that slowed the gamma giant's descent down and gave him considerably less control over how wildly he fell. Taking full advantage of this, the android then formed a mouth on its face and blew, releasing an arctic gust that made a Hulkcicle out of ol' jolly green a few inches from his head.
Before he could break out, the robot beat him to the punch by grabbing his frozen form and slamming it against the ground, freeing him. It then grabbed a hold of his neck and kept him there, despite his protests.
"Now, let's see about this transformation of yours, shall we?"
From its hand, a steady pulse of green energy flowed forth and bathed the Hulk, transforming him back, slowly, into the relatively weak and scrawny form of Bruce Banner. With a little bit more pressure applied, the doctor took an early sleep and was prevented from getting angry enough to transform back into his hulking alter ego.
The Thunderer, on the other hand, was still very well in the fight. A fact that was demonstrated by the bolt of lightning fired from his hammer striking the machine where he stood.
"Enough!" Thor bellowed, flying forth from the pond, his free hand rubbing his pained chin. "If thou continues on the path you have so chosen, then I will no longer hesitate to cease your destruction in your stead for good!"
"Hmmm..." the android said. "Amusing. A deity of a group of warrior people is holding back against an opponent that has given him and two of his strongest allies one of the best fights they've had in awhile."
From the golden fingertips of both of its mechanical hands, small yellow spheres of energy, no larger than a baseball or grapefruit, floated away and formed a ring around its body, orbiting about like planets around a star.
"Tell you what," it began, "in order for you to show me your true power, each three seconds you refuse to do so, I launch these orbs into the city. Something that I really don't think you wish me to do for the simple reason that, although they may not look like it, each one of these contains enough power to level a city block."
The Thunderer's face remained stern and betrayed nothing.
"So, mighty Thor," the machine said condescendingly, "what's it going to be?"
The Thunderer said nothing, instead, spinning his hammer about.
"One block."
The android flicked one of the spheres, like one might a marble, off into the sky. Before gravity could bring it into the downward portion of his arc though, a bolt of lightning from Thor's hammer detonated it, causing it to explode in a brilliant golden flash above the park.
"Two blocks."
Two more of the orbs were flicked towards the city. One of them suffered the same fate as the previously launched one, while the remaining one was swatted back towards the park where it exploded harmlessly.
"Three block—"
With prenatural speed, the Thunderer detonated all of the orbs around the android with an electricity charged Mjolnir. As he had come to expect, it floated out of the sizable crater caused by the immense golden flash, unscathed, soulless red eyes continuing to stare up at him.
"Very well then machine," Thor said coldly. "If it is my true power doth seek, then Mjolnir shall be the one to grant you such a display!"
The Thunderer flew high, swinging his fabled uru mallet over his head, beneath a whirling storm cloud he had formed. What he was preparing to unleash was a technique he had only ever used on the mortal villain known as Graviton since his most recent period of coming to earth. A dangerous assault of energy that would tap directly into his own immense life-force and, through Mjolnir, mingle that energy with the lightning magic that was his to command and release it as a single, devastating, blast.
The god-blast.
Unlike the one used on Dr. Hall however, this one would be a bit more concentrated, as well as utilize much more power. Half of his remaining life force.
From the storm cloud, a dozen arcs of lightning shot forth and continuously struck his hammer, causing it to glow an ethereal bluish-white.
"Have at thee!" Thor cried out.
He aimed his weapon downwards towards the android, energy the same color as his hammer's glow that was like a fusion between a lightning strike and a more traditional energy blast, hitting the Android square on the chest.
The ensuing release of power temporarily blinded people all over Manhattan, and was even visible in New Jersey.
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